Safety control system for elevator-cars.



H. G. HILLMAN 61 S. M. WARD. ls. SAFETY 00111301 SYSTEM FOR ELEVATORCARS;

APPLICATION FILED AUG.2, I910. 1,171,518. 1

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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Patented Feb. 15,1916.

H. G. HILLMAN 6: S. M. WARD. h.

SAFETY CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ELEVATOR CARS.

APPLICATION mzo AUG-2| 1910.

1, 171,5 18. Patented Feb. 15, 19m

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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SAFETY CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ELEVATORCARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-2.1910. I 1,171,518, Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- 3:913 Streams}! a IWAGM the controller is in aposition to UNITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY GEORGE HILLMAN, F MORRIS PARK, AND SAMUEL M. WARD, JR., OF NEWYORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS TO JOHN T. CLARKE, OF NEW YQRK, N. Y.

SAFETY CONTROL SYSTEM FOR ELEVATOR-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

' To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, HENRY G. HILLMAN, ofMorris Park, Long Island, New York, and SAMUEL M. \VARD, Jr.,- of thecity, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements inSafety Control Systems for Elevator-Cars,- ofwhich the followingis a specification.

Our invention relates to safety control systems for elevator cars andthe like, and one of the objects of our invention is to provide adurable, inexpensive and efficient safety control system by means ofwhich the landing doorsvwill be held latched until the car reaches thelanding. and then opened, andby which the car controller mechanism isrendered inoperative to start the car until the landing door is closedagain.

Another object of the invention is to reduce, as far as is consistentwith safety, the amount of wiring and the number of electromagnets orsolenoids used in suchnsystems.

Another object of the invention is to provide, where brakes are used inconnection with car motors, suitable circuits and apparatus whereby'thebrake will be applied by the opening of the door, but only when greatlyreduce thespeed of or stop the car.

Still another object of the invention is to .provide suitable apparatusby means .of

which we may utilize relatively small mag- ,nets mounted on the car tounlatch the doors at the different landings, and to further pro vide asuitable control circuit and contacts whereby the door latch at anylanding will be operated only when the car controller mechanism isbrought substantially to its neutral position. v

Other objects and advantages of the invention, including novel forms ofswitches, contacts, etc., wi more fully appear from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in

Figure 1 is an embodiment of one form ofthe invention; Fig. 2 is anembodiment of a modification; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of thepreferred form of electro-magnetically operated device for operating thedoor latches; F ig. 4 is a novel form of door switch used in our system;Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively side and plan views of a novel form ofcontact used in our system.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1, 1 is a car which in this particularembodiment of the invention is operated by an electric motor 2, which inturn is governed by suitable controller mechanism 3, mounted on the carand from which a cable 4 containing the master control wires is led tothe motor.

In order to lock the controller at certain times inits neutral position,a suitable device, such as a disk 5, is connected to the controller bymeans of a chain 6 or other suitable gearing, and this disk is providedwith a locking notch 7. Adjacent to this disk a locking finger 8 ismounted on the car in position to engage the notch when the. controlleris at, or substantially at, its neutral position and this finger isoperated by a suitable solenoid 9. The apparatus thus far describedforms no part of the present invention, the same being the subject of apatent granted to Henry G, Hillman January 10, 1911, No. 981,424, inwhich it is fully described and claimed. Upon this disk is mounted acontact plate 10, which engages two contact-fingers 11, 12, mountedadjacent the plate and in position to be bridged by the plate only whenthe controller is in its neutral position. Upon the car is also mounteda relatively high resistance magnet 13, operating a suitable device 14to move the latter into position to engage door latches 15 at theditferent landings.

The unlatching mechanism shown in the present embodiment of theinvention coinprises a shoe member 16, extending in the generaldirection of the travel of the car, which shoe is of such dimensions asto engage a roller 17 on the latch 15 whenever the car is in thevicinity of a landing and the solenoid 13 energized. The shoe shouldpreferably be of such dimensions that it will only engage the latch 15to unlatch the door when the floor of the car is within a few inches ofthe landing, i. 6. only when the car is in the proper position forpassengersto step out of or into the car. The solenoid is connected tothe shoe operating lever by means of a suitable pin and slot connec-'tion 18.

The solenoid 13 is connected in circuit with locking solenoid 9 and withcontact fingers 11, 12, through the following circuit, bus bar 19, cablewire 20, through the cable to the car and thence out of the cablethrough said wire 20, through solenoid 13,

tion to stop the car, thus avoiding the noise and wear andtearoccasioned if the solenoid was normally energized to throw the shoe intoposition to engage each latch as the car moved up and 'down the well.

The solenoids 13 and 9, as will be seen from an inspection of Fig. 1,are in serieswith ea c h other .and, as above stated, solenoid 13 is ofcomparativelyhigh resistance, and solenoid 9 is so wound that it willnot be operatively energized to open contacts 35 and lock the notcheddisk as long as solenoid 13 remains in circuit with it; but

said solenoid 9 will only be operatively, energized when solenoid 13 iscut out of the circuit by means of the following apparatus.

A branch from each of the Wires and 21 leading to solenoid 13 continuesto the traveling contacts 30, 31 which are mounted on the car, and thesecontacts, when the car reaches the landing, engage with stationarycontacts 28, 29 from which lead wires 26 and 27 to stationary doorcontacts 24, 24

which are adapted to be bridged by the movable door switch contact 23when the landing door is opened. that by means of this apparatus, whenthe cararrives at the landing and the controller handle 44 is moved tothe neutral position,

contact strip 10 will close the circuit'from bus bar 19 through wire 20,solenoid 13, wire 21, switch 46, solenoid 9 through contacts 12, 10 and11, back through wire 21 to the negative bus'bar. This circuit beingclosed by the movement of the controller .handle 44 to the neutralposition, solenoid 13 becomes operatively energized to throw the shoe 16against the lower part of latch 15 so as to unlatch the door and permitits being opened; but the solenoid 9, although in series with solenoid13, is not yet operatively energized, since solenoid 13 has not yet beencut out of circuit. But as soon as the landing door is opened, movablecontact 23 of door switch .25 bridges the stationary contacts 24, 24',thus short-circuiting solenoid 13 through the previously traced branchcircuit, thereby increasing the current through solenoid 9 and causingit to open contacts 35 in the master control circuit, 1 and at the sametime'causing it to lock the notched disk and master control mechanismfrom further movement as long as the door remains open. Immediately uponthe bridging of the stationary door contacts 24, 24' by movable contact23, solenoid 13 is dei nergized and door latch 15 is permitted It willbe seen,

- troller is in the running position.

to swing back to its normal or locking position, in which position, whenthe door is again closed, the latch will engage the notch on the door soas to hold it closed. Upon the door being closed, movable contact 23 ofthe door switch is forced from engagement with the stationary doorcontacts, thus opening the shunt circuit around solenoid 13 so as tothrow solenoid 13 back into circuit with solenoid 9, thereby decreasingthe current in the circuit to an extent sufiicient to permit the closingof contacts 35 in the master control circuit and the unlocking of thenotched disk 5, so that the car may now be started.

In order to automatically apply the motor brake in some installations,and in others as in the present embodiment, to. prevent the applicationof the brake by the opening of landing doors until the controllerisbrought to, its neutral position, we provide' the following apparatus. Asuitable control circuit 34 contains contacts 35, which are controlledby solenoid 9 for the purpose of closing and opening said circuit andthereby energizing and deenergizing a solenoid 36, which in turncontrols contacts 37 included in a circuit 38 containing the brakesolenoid 39, which when deenergized permits the apmen to the differentpositions of the master control, the circuit being completed through anyone of the other master control wires,

depending upon the position of the con- -troller handle 44', saidcircuit being .open

when the controller handle is in its neutral position .as shown, saidcommon control wire being well understood in the art and needing nofurther explanation here. It has been customary to include door switchesand certain other controlling devices in this circuit 34, but such anarrangement would result in a sudden application of the brake should adoor he opened while the con- This sudden application of the brake bythe opening of a door is not necessary, and it results in severe strainson the braking apparatus and operating parts of the car, as well assubjecting the passengers to considerable annoyance and probable injury.In order to overcome this difficulty we have placed the door switches ina branch of the circuit above traced, which circuit includes thesolenoid 9 by which arrangement the solenoid is opera ted to lock thecontroller mechanism whenever a door-is opened and the of position andunlatch the door.

car controller brought to its neutral position; and in the circuit 34 weprovide the contacts 35, which are opened only when solenoid 9 isoperated to lock thecontroller. By this means We relay the door switchcontrol of the brake in such manner as to prevent the application of thebrake due to the opening of a door, until the controller is movedsubstantially to its neutral position. .Insystems in which the brake isnot controlled by the regular control circuits, the circuit 34 may be aseparate and independent auxiliary control circuit through which thebrake may be applied by the opening and closing of contacts 35.

In order to ermit the magnetization of solenoid 13 to unlatch thelanding doors in case the control supply should fail or get out oforder, we provide an auxiliary source of current 45, carried upon thecar and capable of being connected across the wires 20 and 21 by meansof a suitable switch 46, which is so arranged that it will open up thecircuit through the control locking solenoid 9 and close the circuit ofthe auxiliary source 45 through the solenoid 13. By this means theunlatching of the different doors may be readily accomplished should thecontrol mechanism be thrown out of order.

In Fig. 3 an enlarged side elevation of the magnetically operated shoeis shown for operating the different door latches 15. As shown in thisfigure the latch operating device comprises a shoe 16 which as above setforth extends in the general direction of the travel of the car and isso positioned with respect to the car that when its operating solenoid13 is energized it will be thrown into position to engage the roller 17of the door latch to throw the latch out The shoe may be formed integralwith a suitable lever, as shown, or it may be arranged detachably to theoperating lever so as to be readily renewed. The solenoid 13 ispreferably connected to the shoe operating lever near its supportingpivot by means of the pin and slot connection 18, so that the core orarmature of the solenoid or magnet as the case may be will have butrelatively small movement and in order that there will be no tendency ofthe parts to bind.

Referring to Figs. 5 and 6, 47 is a suitable contact support secured toany suitable part of the elevator well adjacent to the landing, to whichsupport is hinged a member 48 on which are mounted the contact strips orplates 28, 29, suitably insulated from the supporting member 47. Themember 48 carrying the contact plates is normally held out from thesupport 47 by means of a suitable spring 49, which fits over projections50, 51, on said members: and the outward movement of the member 48 fromthe support 47 is limited by suitable means such as a chain 56. IVhentraveling contacts 30, 31, which'are mounted on the car, engage thecontact plates 28, 29, the member 48 is forced down' against spring 49,thus insuring good contact between the traveling and stationary parts.

In Fig. 4 we have shown a novel form of door switch used in connectionwith our system. This switch consists of two longitudinal side pieces52, 52 of insulating material connected intermediate their ends by across piece of insulating material, which is preferably mortised intothe longitudinal sides and secured thereto by suitable screws 54. Aplunger. member 55 is mounted between the longitudinal side pieces andpasses through a suitable opening in the cross piece 53 and through theends of a suitable casing inclosing the switch. The plunger member 55,which may be formed of insulating material, carries a suitable contactmember 23, which in this instance is cone-shaped and arranged to contactwith the contacts 24, 24 mounted on one of the side pieces 52, fromwhich contacts suitable wires may lead to the control solenoid 9. Theswitch mechanism is inclosed at its ends and on its top and bottom bymeans of a suitable metallic casing.

In Fig. 2 we have shown a modification of our invention in which the twowire circuits including the door latch magnet and the door switches 25are wired up the side of the elevator well as distinguished from beingwired in the cable of the elevator car, as shown in Fig. 1. Theoperation of the apparatus shown in this modification is very similar tothat described in connection with Fig. 1. In this modification of theinvention'the control circuit wire 20 is wired up the side of theelevator well to one of the contacts of the different door switches.while the other control circuit wire 21 is carried through the cable 4and wired through the contacts 10, 11 and 12, and thence throughsolenoid 9 back through the cable and up the side of the elevator wellto the second contact of the door switch. Also a magnet 60 is providedat each landing for unlatching the doors and each magnet is connectedacross the control circuit wires 20 and 21 in multiple with the doorlatch switches. The circuit to each magnet is closed by means of asuitable contact 61 carried upon the car and engag ing the stationarycontact plates 28 and 2%). The operation of this modification is asfollows: \Vhen the car reaches a landing. the traveling contact (31mounted on the car bridges stationary contacts 28 mounted along thepatch of travel of the car adjacent the landing, thus placing magnet 60in series with solenoid 5) through the following circuit: from positivebus and 29 bar 19, through wire 20, magnet 60, contacts 28, 61 and 29,wire 21, passing through the cable to the car, and out of said cable tocontacts 11, 10 and 12 controlled by the notched disk, thence throughwire 21 and. solenoid 9 back down through the cable to the negative busbar. The magnet 60 being energized by the bridging of contacts 28 and29, when the car reaches the landing, operates upon latch 15 to move itinto the position shown, where the car is at the landing in Fig. 2, inwhich position the door is unlatched. Immediately upon the opening ofthe door, the movable contact 23 of the door switch is thrust forwardand, bridging stationary door switch contacts 24-24', closes a shuntcircuit around the magnet. 60, thus cutting it out of circuit withsolenoid 9 so as to increase the current through the circuit to solenoid9, as described in the operation of the first modification, therebycausing it to open contacts 35 in the master control circuit and at thesame time lock the master control mechanism from operation. When thedoor is again closed, the circuit through the door switch contacts isbroken and solenoid 9 is sufliciently' deenergized to permit theunlocking of the master control mechanism and the starting of the motor.One of the advantages of this modification over the first described, isthat, in this modification the controller mechanism will be lockedwhenever it is brought to the neutral position, at any position of, thecar in the well, should any door in the well be open, whereas, in thefirst modification, the controller mechanism will not be locked unlemthe car is in the vicinity of that landing or until it reaches thelanding.

It should be understood that by the use of the word magnet in theappended claims, we intend to cover magnets, solenoids or otherelectromagnetically operated devices, all of which at this state of theart are considered well known equivalents.

Obviously various modifications and changes may be made in theembodiment of our invention herein shown and described and we do notwish to be understood as limiting ourselves to any particular embodimentof the invention, other than as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. In a, safety control system for elevators, the combination of alanding, a door at said landing, a latch for the door, a magnetoperating the latch, a car, controller mechanism therefor, a device forlocking the controller mechanism at its neutral position, a magnetoperating said device. a circuit common to each of said magnets andthrough which each receives current when the controller is in theneutral position irrespective of the position of the car, and means forcausing the complete energization of the controller lock magnet when adoor is open.

2. In a safety control system for elevators, the combination of alanding and a door at said landing, a door latch, a magnet for operatingthe latch, a circuit through which the magnet is operated, a car,controller mechanism for the car, a locking member operatively relatedto the controller mechanism, an electro-responsive device controllingthe locking member and in circuit with the latch magnet, and a doorswitch controlling said circuit and operated when the door is opened tovary the current in said circuit and operate the electro-responsivedevice to lock the controller in its neutral position.

3. In a safety control system for elevators, the combination of alanding and a door at said landing, a door latch, a magnet for operatingthe latch, a circuit through which the magnet is operated, a car,controller mechanism for the car, a locking member operatively relatedto the controller mechanism, an electro-responsive device operating thelocking memberand in series circuit with 1 the latch magnet, and a doorswitch operatively connected with said circuit and operated when thedoor is opened to cut the latch magnet out of circuit and vary thecurrent in the electro-responsive device to operate the locking memberand lock the controller mechanism at its neutral position.

4. In a safety control system for elevators, the combination of aplurality of landings with a door at each landing, a latch at each door,a car, a magnet carried on the car and operatingthe latches at thedifferent landings, acircuit controlling said magnet, contacts at eachlanding, contacts on the'car connected in multiple circuit with thelatch magnet and successively engaging the said landing contacts, carcontroller mechanism having a neutral position, a device for locking thecontroller in its neutral position, an electro-responsive deviceoperating said locking device, and door switches at the landings incircuit with the landing contacts each operated when its door is openedand the car adjacent the corresponding landing to short circuit thelatch magnet and increase the current through the electro-responsivedevice to lock the controller.

5. Ida safety control system for elevators, the combination of aplurality of landings with a door at each landing, a latch at each door,a car, a magnet carried on the car and operating the latches atthedifierent landings, a circuit controlling sald magnet, contacts ateach landing, contacts on the car connected in multiple circuit with thelatch magnet and successively engaging the said landing contacts, carcontrollermechanism having a neutral position, contacts in the latchmagnet controlling circuit operated by car,

. landing and the controller mechanism to prevent the closing of saidcircuit until the controller is at its neutral position, a device forlocking the controller in its neutral position, an electro-responsivedevice operating said locking device, door switches at the landings incircuit with the landing contacts, and each switch operated when itsdoor is opened and the car adjacent the corresponding landing to shortcircuit the latch magnet and increase the current through the electroresponsive device to lock the controller.

6. In an elevator safety control system, a

car, a motor device moving the car, an electro-magnetically controlledbrake and a circuit controlling the same, car controller mechanismhaving a neutral position, a locking member engaging the controllermechanism to lock it substantially at its neutral position, and contactsin the brake controlling circuit operated by said locking means. A 7. Inan elevator safety control system, a

a motor device moving the car, an electro-magnetically controlled brakeand a circuit controlling the same, car controller mechanism having aneutral position, a locking member engaging the controller mechanism tolock it substantially at its neutral position, an electro-magnetoperating said member, a circuit including said magnet, and contactscontrolling the brake circuit and operated by said magnet to apply thebrake when said member is moved into locking engagement with saidcontroller mechanism.

8. In an elevator safety control system, a car, a motor device movingthe car, an electro-magnetically controlled brake and a circuitcontrolling the same, car controller mechanism comprising a notchedmember, a locking finger engaging with the notch, a magnet operating thefinger, and contacts controlling the brake circuit and actuated by thefinger to apply the brake when the finger is moved into lockingengagement with the notch.

9. In an elevator safety control system, the combination of a car, amotor device moving the car, a brake and a circuit controlling the same,car controller mechanism including a notched member, a finger engagingin said notch, a magnet operating the finger, a door, a door switch,circuits controlling the magnet to move the finger into engagement withthe notched member when the door is opened, and contacts controlling thebrake circuit and actuated by the magnet to operate the brake when thedoor is opened and the controller substantially at its neutral position.

10. In an elevator safety control system, a a door at said landing, acar, means operating the car, an electro-magnetically controlled brakefor said means, car controller mechanism, a door switch, a lockingfinger engaging a part of the controller mechanism, anelectro-responsive device moving the finger into locking engagement withsaid mechanism, a circuit through which the electro-responsive device iscontrolled by the door switch, and means controlled by the finger forapplying the brake when the finger is moved into locking engagement withsaid mechanism.

11. In an elevator safety control system, a car, a motor device movingthe car, an electro-magnetically controlled brake, a circuit controllingsaid brake, a car, controller mechanism, a locking finger engaging apart of the controller mechanism, and contacts operated by the movementof said finger into engagement with the controller mechanism andcontrolling the application of said brake through said circuit.

12. In an elevator safety control system, the combination of a car, amotor device moving the car, a brake and a circuit controlling the same,car controller mechanism having a neutral position, a door, a doorswitch, and means including contacts actuated by the controllermechanism when substantially at its neutral position and controlling thebrakecircuit to apply the brake when the door is opened with the carsubstantially at its neutral position.

13. In an elevator safety control system, a car, controller mechanism onthe car, a plurality of landings each having a door, door latchmechanism at each landing, an electro-magnet carried by the car andpositioned thereon to control the latch mechanism of the door at anylanding adjacent the car, a controlcircuit for said magnet and contactsin said circuit operated when the controller mechanism is at its neutralposition only, to prevent the operation of any latch mechanism by themagnet when the controller is in any other than its neutral position.

14. In an elevator safety control system, a car, controller mechanismhaving a neutral position, a plurality of landings each having a doorand door latch mechanism, latchengaging means carried by the car, anelectro-magnet operating said means to move it into position to engagethe latch mechanism of a door when the car is adjacent a landing, acircuit controlling said magnet and contacts in said circuit adjacent toand positively operated by the controller mechanism to prevent theenergization of the magnet until the controller mechanism is at itsneutral position, whereby the respective door latches will not beoperated when the car is passin the different landings.

15. u an elevator safety control system, a car, a motor moving the car,a power circuit to the motor, a brake for the motor, master controlcircuits controlling the operation of said motor and brake, controllermechanism for the master control circuits, a locking finger locking thecontroller mechanism in its neutral position, an electro-magnetoperating said finger, a door switch controlling said magnet, andcontacts in one of the master control circuits operated by said lockingfinger to open said circuit.

16. In an elevator safety control system, one or more landings and adoor at each landing, a car, means including a door latch magnet carriedon the car to unlatch said doors, a circuit controlling said ma net, carcontroller mechanism having a neu ral position, and contacts in saidcircuit operated to close the circuit of the door latch magnet only whenthe controller mechanism is substantially at its neutral position, andpreventing the energization of the door latch magnet for unlocking adoor when the controller is in any other than substantially its neutralposition.

In testimony whereof, We have signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY GEORGE HILLMAN. SAMUEL M. WARD. JR.

lVitnesses H. B. Yonmux, J. O. GEMPLER.

